The Tech Industry Tried Reducing AI’s Pervasive Bias. Now Trump Wants to End Its ‘Woke AI’ Efforts; Associated Press via Inc., April 28, 2025

 Associated Press via Inc.; The Tech Industry Tried Reducing AI’s Pervasive Bias. Now Trump Wants to End Its ‘Woke AI’ Efforts 

"In the White House and the Republican-led Congress, “woke AI” has replaced harmful algorithmic discrimination as a problem that needs fixing. Past efforts to “advance equity” in AI development and curb the production of “harmful and biased outputs” are a target of investigation, according to subpoenas sent to Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and 10 other tech companies last month by the House Judiciary Committee.

And the standard-setting branch of the U.S. Commerce Department has deleted mentions of AI fairness, safety and “responsible AI” in its appeal for collaboration with outside researchers. It is instead instructing scientists to focus on “reducing ideological bias” in a way that will “enable human flourishing and economic competitiveness,” according to a copy of the document obtained by The Associated Press.

In some ways, tech workers are used to a whiplash of Washington-driven priorities affecting their work.

But the latest shift has raised concerns among experts in the field, including Harvard University sociologist Ellis Monk, who several years ago was approached by Google to help make its AI products more inclusive."

Emerging From a Collective Silence, Universities Organize to Fight Trump; The New York Times, April 27, 2025

 Stephanie Saul and Alan Blinder, The New York Times; Emerging From a Collective Silence, Universities Organize to Fight Trump

"The Trump administration’s swift initial rollout of orders seeking more control over universities left schools thunderstruck. Fearing retribution from a president known to retaliate against his enemies, most leaders in higher education responded in February with silence.

But after weeks of witnessing the administration freeze billions in federal funding, demand changes to policies and begin investigations, a broad coalition of university leaders publicly opposing those moves is taking root. The most visible evidence yet was a statement last week signed by more than 400 campus leaders opposing what they saw as the administration’s assault on academia.

Although organizations of colleges and administrators regularly conduct meetings on a wide range of issues, the statement by the American Association of Colleges and Universities was an unusual show of unity considering the wide cross-section of interests it included: Ivy League institutions and community colleges, public flagship schools and Jesuit universities, regional schools and historically Black colleges.

“We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the statement said."

As Cardinals Prepare to Elect a Pope, One Motto Is ‘Unity.’ That’s Divisive.; The New York Times, April 27, 2025

  Jason Horowitz , The New York Times; As Cardinals Prepare to Elect a Pope, One Motto Is ‘Unity.’ That’s Divisive.

“It sounds really good,” said Cardinal Michael Czerny of Canada, who was one of Francis’ closest advisers, but “it means reversal.” For those who opposed Francis, many of them appointed by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, unity means a “new introversion” with the promise of “unity solving all our problems,” he said...

The two cardinals sit on opposing ends of the ideological divide. Those like Cardinal Czerny put priority on another word: diversity.

“They are the two key words, diversity and unity, and there is a lot in play on the balance between them,” said the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, under secretary for the Vatican’s office for Culture and Education, who was close to Francis."

Tyrants like Trump always fall – and we can already predict how he will be dethroned; The Guardian, April 27, 2025

 Simon Tisdall , The Guardian; Tyrants like Trump always fall – and we can already predict how he will be dethroned

"Tyrants come to a sticky end, or so history suggests. Richard III and Coriolanus made bloody exits. More recently, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows, Slobodan Milosevic went to jail, Bashar al-Assad went into exile. Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi was run to ground in a sewer. Tyranny, from the Greek túrannos (“absolute ruler”), is typically fuelled by hubris and leads ineluctably to nemesis. Tyrants are for toppling. Their downfall is a saving grace...

This fight has moral and ethical aspects, too – and, given this is the US, prayer is a powerful weapon in the hands of those who would slay evil-doers. Of the seven deadly sins – vainglory or pride, greed or covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth – Trump is comprehensively, mortally guilty. In Isaiah (13,11), the Lord gives fair warning: “I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.” God knows, maybe he’ll listen. Miracles do happen.

Of all the tools in the tyrant-toppling toolbox, none are so potentially decisive as those supplied by Trump’s own stupidity. Most people understand how worthless a surrender monkey “peace deal” is that rewards Putin and betrays Ukraine. Does Trump seriously believe his support for mass murder in Gaza, threats to attack Iran and reckless bombing of Yemenwill end the Middle East conflict and win him a Nobel peace prize?

By almost every measure, Trump’s chaotic global tariff war is hurting American consumers, damaging businesses and reducing US influence. It’s a boon to China and an attack on longtime allies and trading partners such as Britain. Trump’s big tech boosters know this to be so, as do many Republicans. But they dare not speak truth to power.

And then there’s his greed – the blatant, shameless money-grubbing that has already brought accusations of insider trading, oligarchic kleptocracy, and myriad conflicts of interest unpoliced by the 17 government oversight watchdogs Trump capriciously fired. His relatives and businesses are again pursuing foreign sweetheart deals. Corruption on this scale cannot pass unchallenged indefinitely. Avarice alone may be Trump’s undoing.

All this points to one conclusion: as a tyrant, let alone as president, Trump is actually pretty useless – and as his failures, frustrations and fantasies multiply, he will grow ever more dangerously unstable. Trump’s biggest enemy is Trump. Those who would save the US and themselves – at home and abroad – must employ all democratic means to contain, deter, defang and depose him. But right now, the best, brightest hope is that, drowning in hubris, Trump will destroy himself."

Marriott’s CEO spoke out about DEI. The next day, he had 40,000 emails from his associates; Fortune, April 18, 2025

ASHLEY LUTZ, Fortune; Marriott’s CEO spoke out about DEI. The next day, he had 40,000 emails from his associates

"Marriott’s CEO speaks out

After Trump announced sweeping changes to DEI in January, many executives and companies were left reeling.

Capuano says he met with his executive leadership team in Bethesda, Md., where they decided to take a week to research and process before meeting again. The CEO then flew to Los Angeles for the Americas Lodging Investment Summit. While there, he was inundated with questions about Marriott’s approach to DEI in the future. 

Rather than stay silent, Capuano recalled many conversations with his mentor and former chairman Bill Marriott, and decided to speak. 

“The winds blow, but there are some fundamental truths for those 98 years,” Capuano said. “We welcome all to our hotels and we create opportunities for all—and fundamentally those will never change. The words might change, but that’s who we are as a  company.”...

“Within 24 hours, I had 40,000 emails from Marriott associates around the world, saying ‘thank you,’” he said. Many expressed appreciation to work for a company whose values aligned with their own.

Marriott is among Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For that are sticking up for DEI policies right now. Others on the list include Delta and Cisco."

‘This Moment Is Critical.’ Whither Progressive Christians After Pope Francis?; The New York Times, April 24, 2025

  Elizabeth Dias and Ruth Graham, The New York Times; ‘This Moment Is Critical.’ Whither Progressive Christians After Pope Francis?

"For 12 years, Pope Francis was the most powerful Christian on the world stage, using his voice to elevate the poor and the marginalized.

Millions of progressive Christians in the United States, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, considered him to be a powerful counterweight to a rising conservative Christian power. He was the magnetic center for their values.

His death on Monday leaves behind a question gnawing inside their minds.

In a world without Pope Francis, where their values feel particularly vulnerable, where do they go from here?

“This moment is critical now,” Bishop Sean W. Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, said. “For those of us who want to embody the Sermon on the Mount, and the Beatitudes, and the love that Jesus showed in the world, this is now more important than ever.”

Pope Francis stood in contrast to a brand of Christianity that has increasing power in the United States. It is mixed with nationalism and, according to Bishop Rowe, is “not only fundamentally not Christian” but “also dangerous.”

“We have to begin to step up and communicate this message in ways that are winsome and compelling,” he added. “Politics are certainly co-opting Christian language and the Christian story. It is now ours to take that back.”...

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, the leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, went to Mass on Monday night with her husband, who is Catholic. After her sermon at the inauguration prayer service when she pleaded with Mr. Trump to have mercy, many Christians have turned to her as a moral pillar...

“Whatever happens in the rest of my lifetime or yours, some of us have to keep a candle burning. We can’t let this go,” she said. “Someday the pendulum will swing back.”"

Trump Cuts Threaten Agency Running Meals on Wheels; The New York Times, April 24, 2025

Reed Abelson, The New York Times; Trump Cuts Threaten Agency Running Meals on Wheels

[Kip Currier: A dear nonagenarian friend of my family's, whom I'll shorthand by her first initial M, utilized Meals on Wheels for about a decade after her husband passed away. She lived on her own in a modest home in a peaceful forested area of Northwestern Pennsylvania. In addition to receiving healthy meals for the week, the volunteer who brought the meals once a week visited and chatted a bit with M. So, the program also provided a social interaction benefit. 

M passed away in early 2024. But during that decade on her own after she became a widow, Meals on Wheels helped M to be able to live independently. Just as the program has done for hundreds of thousands of other seniors.

How terribly short-sighted and unkind it is for this current administration to threaten such a valuable and compassionate program as Meals on Wheels: a volunteer brigade that has been helping older Americans to live with dignity in their Golden Years since 1954.

Call your state and federal representatives and tell them you want Meals on Wheels to continue:

Directory of U.S. House Representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives

Directory of U.S. Senators: https://www.senate.gov/senators/index.htm ]

[Excerpt]

"Every Monday, Maurine Gentis, a retired teacher, waits for a delivery from Meals on Wheels South Texas.

“The meals help stretch my budget,” Ms. Gentis, 77, said. Living alone and in a wheelchair, she appreciates having someone look in on her regularly. The same group, a nonprofit, delivers books from the library and dry food for her cat.

But Ms. Gentis is anxious about what lies ahead. The small government agency responsible for overseeing programs like Meals on Wheels is being dismantled as part of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Roughly half its staff has been let go in recent layoffs and all of its 10 regional offices are closed, according to several employees who lost their jobs.

“I’m just kind of worried that the whole thing might go down the drain, too,” Ms. Gentis said.

In President Trump’s quest to end what he termed “illegal and immoral discrimination programs,” one of his executive orders promoted cracking down on federal efforts to improve accessibility and representation for those with disabilities, with agencies flagging words like “accessible” and “disability” as potentially problematic. Certain research studies are no longer being funded, and many government health employees specializing in disability issues have been fired.

The downsizing of the agency, the Administration for Community Living, is part of far-reaching cuts planned at the H.H.S. under the Trump administration’s proposed budget."

Trump budget draft ends Narcan program and other addiction measures.; The New York Times, April 25, 2025

  

Jan Hoffman, 

The New York Times; 

Trump budget draft ends Narcan program and other addiction measures.

"The opioid overdose reversal medication commercially known as Narcan saves hundreds of thousands of lives a year and is routinely praised by public health experts for contributing to the continuing drop in opioid-related deaths. But the Trump administration plans to terminate a $56 million annual grant program that distributes doses and trains emergency responders in communities across the country to administer them, according to a draft budget proposal.

In the document, which outlines details of the drastic reorganization and shrinking planned for the Department of Health and Human Services, the grant is among many addiction prevention and treatment programs to be zeroed out.

States and local governments have other resources for obtaining doses of Narcan, which is also known by its generic name, naloxone. One of the main sources, a program of block grants for states to use to pay for various measures to combat opioid addiction, does not appear to have been cut.

But addiction specialists are worried about the symbolic as well as practical implications of shutting down a federal grant designated specifically for naloxone training and distribution."

What did Pope Francis think of JD Vance? His view was more than clear; The Guardian, April 23, 2025

 Jan-Werner Müller , The Guardian; What did Pope Francis think of JD Vance? His view was more than clear

"We might never quite know what Pope Francis said to the US vice-president during their very brief meeting on Sunday. In the widely shared video clip, it was hardly audible. The morning after, Francis died, and Vance jetted to visit India, finding time to tweet that his heart went out to the millions of Christians who loved Francis (implying, I suppose, that not all Catholics loved him) and patronizing the dead pontiff by calling one of his homilies “really quite beautiful”).

Francis had been as outspoken as could be without naming names, when he criticized Vance in his February letter to US bishops; but he was not just registering his rebuke of Trump and Vance’s cruel treatment of refugees and migrants; he was reacting to a broader trend of instrumentalizing religion for nationalist and authoritarian populism...

Francis, in a letter to US bishops, instructed the flock that “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings!”

He added, driving home the rebuke without naming names, that “the true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ … that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” Apparently, Cardinal Pietro Parolin was dispatched on Saturday to explain all this to Vance again.

Vance is not the only far-right populist who has smuggled nationalism into what he touts as the correct notion of Christianity. Viktor Orbán, a great model for Vance and other self-declared US “post-liberals” (meaning: anti-liberals), has been declaring for years that a proper understanding of “Christian Democracy” is not only “illiberal”, but nationalist."

‘We Know Donald Trump Wants the Story to Die’; The Bulwark, April 23, 2025

 ADRIAN CARRASQUILLO, The Bulwark; ‘We Know Donald Trump Wants the Story to Die’

"The representatives who traveled to El Salvador also sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding the State Department continue wellness checks on Abrego Garcia, secure his access to counsel, and work for his return in compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court order.

But while Abrego Garcia has garnered by far the most attention of the detainees sent to El Salvador, the four House Democrats also asked for proof of life of Andry José Hernández Romero, a gay, 19-year-old Venezuelan makeup artist whose detention has also made waves. Hernández Romero was classified as a gang member because he has tattoos that say “mom” and “dad” with crowns.

Ansari told me no one had heard from Hernández Romero, who has been documented to have no history of criminal activity, since March 14.

“Everyone is extremely worried about him,” she said from El Salvador. “We’ve had no proof of life in over a month.”

Lindsay Toczylowski, the president and CEO of Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which is representing Hernández Romero and nine others sent from the United States to CECOT, told The Bulwark the last person to speak to Andry was his mother. At the time he spoke with her, he thought he was being sent to Venezuela."

‘Who Among Us?’ The Cardinals Now Face Their Test.; The New York Times, April 21, 2025

 Austen Ivereigh, The New York Times; ‘Who Among Us?’ The Cardinals Now Face Their Test. 

"Whatever else emerges in the cardinals’ priorities for a new leader, it is likely to be Francis’ call for “synodality” that most resonates in their discussions. “Synodality” is the word given to the ancient church habit of assembling, discussing, discerning and deciding. Francis adapted the ancient practice of synods and councils in a radically inclusive way that invites all the faithful to be involved. The cardinals may conclude that right now, this is the greatest sign of hope the church can offer the world.

This “culture of encounter,” as Francis called it, may seem a puny thing to the powers that be. But it starts from the idea that those in thrall to the will to power cannot understand: the innate dignity of all, the need to listen to everyone, including those on the margins, and the importance of patiently waiting for consensus. These things are all crucial to the repair of a torn civic fabric.

The cardinals may look at the world and decide that, whatever else they might want from the next pope, the pressing issue facing humanity is how we treat one another."

For Pope Francis, a Last Burst of Pastoring Before Death; The New York Times, April 21, 2025

 Jason HorowitzElisabetta PovoledoEmma Bubola and Michael Levenson, The New York Times; For Pope Francis, a Last Burst of Pastoring Before Death

"For the faithful who began streaming into St. Peter’s Square in tears, Francis’ death at 88 was shocking, coming at the end of a brief period in which he had seemed determined to return to his pastoral duties. He had used his final days to emphasize the themes that defined his papacy, particularly the need to defend migrants and others on the margins of society...

Many said they were particularly distraught because Francis’ style of leadership had made him seem particularly accessible. “He was one of us, one of the people,” Maria Teresa Volpi, 80, said. “He was everyone’s pope.”...

World leaders also mourned the pope’s death, praising his commitment to the poor and marginalized...

His final address was read aloud by a Vatican aide and amplified many of the priorities of his papacy. It called for disarmament and lamented the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in Gaza and the plight of immigrants.

“How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!” Francis wrote."

What Francis meant; The Ink, April 21, 2025

 Anand Giridharadas, The Ink; What Francis meant

"Some of you will have followed Francis’s running dispute with Vice President (and Catholic convert) JD Vance; the Pope singled out Vance’s limited interpretations of scripture for criticism on multiple occasions, continuing into this past Easter Week.

On Easter weekend, Francis first sent church deputies to meet with Vance (who was in Italy last week, for meetings with right-wing ally Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni). Francis did finally meet briefly with Vance on Easter Sunday. The in-person meetings were reportedly cordial, though Francis’s criticism of U.S. immigration policy was reportedly on the table, and the Pope did call out the Trump regime in his final Good Friday address:

Today’s builders of Babel tell us that there is no room for losers, and that those who fall along the way are losers. Theirs is the construction site of hell. God’s economy, on the other hand, does not kill, discard or crush. It is lowly, faithful to the earth.

Francis was the rare leader, spiritual or political, who appeared to have taken the Bible literally and seriously. That brings with it plenty of baggage, but his successors, his followers, and people with all manner of religious affiliations or lack of affiliations in the U.S. and everywhere else, could do worse than to emulate his example."

Humble Francis; Thinking About, April 21, 2025

  Timothy Snyder, Thinking About...; Humble Francis

"Awaiting Francis, I was sitting with the other honorees in a pew towards the front and on the left. The church was very full of people, sitting and standing. I noticed, though, that the people with disabilities were led carefully to the first pew on the right. In this setting, I was reminded of the practices of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, which is dedicated to the "martyrs and the marginalized," including the service of the disabled. I do not know whether Francis would have expected this particular arrangement when he entered the church. I can only report on what he did.

Francis was led down the aisle, resplendent in white, very erect, walking slowly and greeting people along the way. Just before he reached the sanctuary, he halted suddenly and turned to his right, noticing that pew. Then, as the rest of us waited, he walked to its far end, and bent himself to speak. He greeted each person in turn, touching them. As the people with whom he was conversing could not rise, he had to lower himself. So, over and over, Francis knelt down to look someone in the eye and to hold both of their hands in his. This took about fifteen minutes. It was a moment to think about others, and in that sense, for me, a liberation, from my own anxiety and selfishness.

Many words and much grandeur followed. But that moment is what I remember. None of us is perfect. Even Father Omelian Kovch was not perfect. Pope Francis was not perfect. The institution they represented has much to answer for. But imperfection can represent itself as service, in the acknowledgement that we can transcend ourselves when we see others first."

Pope Francis met briefly with Vice President Vance on Sunday; NPR, April 21, 2025

  Joe Hernandez, Rachel Treisman, NPR; Pope Francis met briefly with Vice President Vance on Sunday

"Before he died, Pope Francis met briefly Sunday morning with Vice President Vance. Vance was in Italy over the weekend meeting with Italian officials and celebrating Easter with his family. Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019.

The Holy See Press Office said the pair exchanged Easter greetings in a private meeting that lasted for a few minutes.

In February, Pope Francis warned that the Trump administration's effort to dramatically ramp up deportations was driving a "major crisis." The pope also appeared to criticize Vance directly for claiming that Catholic doctrine justified such policies."

Analysis: Pope Francis' legacy marked by reform efforts and outreach to 'marginalized' people; ABC News, April 21, 2025

 Phoebe Natanson , ABC News; Analysis: Pope Francis' legacy marked by reform efforts and outreach to 'marginalized' people

""God is not afraid of new things! That is why he is continually surprising us, opening our hearts and guiding us in unexpected ways."

So declared Pope Francis in October 2014, just over a year-and-a-half after he was elected, as he beatified Pope Paul VI, who led the Catholic Church nearly two generations earlier...

Pope Francis, who died on Monday, called for "a church for the poor," a church that would reach out to what he called the "peripheries." He called for a humble, more merciful and inclusive church, and repeatedly remembered the "marginalized" people in society.

His papacy brought a series of firsts to the role, which endeared him to people all over the world. Among these: He was the first to take the name Francis, after the medieval friar St. Francis of Assisi, who vowed to live in poverty."

Donald Trump's Easter Message Sparks Backlash From Critics; Newsweek, April 20, 2025

Mandy Taheri, Newsweek; Donald Trump's Easter Message Sparks Backlash From Critics

"President Donald Trump's Easter message, which focused less on the Christian holiday and more on attacking political rivals, including former President Joe Biden and judges, over immigration policy, has drawn backlash from criticson both sides of the aisle."

Beyond Outreach: How a Bookmobile Supported Maui’s West Coast Community After the Fires | Climate Crisis; April 10, 2025

 Lisa Peet , Library Journal; Beyond Outreach: How a Bookmobile Supported Maui’s West Coast Community After the Fires | Climate Crisis

"The Lāhainā Public Library, which served a population of roughly 22,000 across 51 miles, was destroyed in the fire. The Maui Holoholo Bookmobile, however, which has served the island’s six branches since 2016, was spared. Three weeks after the fire was contained, Jessica Gleason, bookmobile librarian at the Wailuku Public Library, and bookmobile driver Michael Tinker, hit the road to support Maui’s West Side community. Together with Lāhainā branch manager Chadde Holbron, the bookmobile team has been providing books, Wi-Fi, goods, story times, and programming in schools, community centers, civic buildings, and parks—needed services in a time of hardship."